Because sometimes my black hair shines a funny blue color in the light, I thought my eyes might be playing tricks on me, so I got a little closer to the mirror. I scooted as close as I could to the nearest light bulb and looked long and hard.

My fears were confirmed. It was only about an eighth of an inch long, but it was there, on my left lower eyelid. . .a tiny gray eyelash.

I'm finally getting used to the gray hairs sprouting out of my head, but EYELASHES?! No one told me my eyelashes would turn colors!! If it were on my head, I'd waste no time yanking the sucker out, but an eyelash, well, you can't have too many of those, right? Besides, mascara would cover the gray anyway.

A friend told me this week I need to learn to grow old gracefully, which made me realize I have a problem with vanity. I guess I thought growing old gracefully was for old people (whose camp I haven't put myself in, yet), but I didn't think about how you get there. It's not like you wake up one day and say, "Hey, I'm old now, so I better be graceful about it." We learn to be graceful by embracing the changes in our bodies as they happen (does anyone else feel the urge to hurl right now?).

I'd rather think of growing old gracefully as accepting the changes, ALL the changes, not just the ones I'm not crazy about. I need to remember though my physical body is deteriorating, my mental, emotional and spiritual facets are getting better all the time. Growing older is not all bad. Yep, I said it and I'll say it again, growing older is not all bad. There is more to it than what meets the eye (and changes the eyelash!). As 2 Corinthians 4:16 tells us, "we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." I may be slowly decaying on the outside, but my inside is becoming spectacular.

So I will not lose heart. I will look at my little gray eyelash and smile. I will make it a reminder that something greater goes on within me. God is working on something beautiful there and what is done inside lasts forever. My little gray eyelash won't. Happy aging, friends!

I was visiting my very gray 85-year-old father this week. You know what struck me? Everytime his face lit up with a smile, he looked like the young Dad I remember so well. So smile, my friend, smile. :~)